Compression sleeve and method of compressing for wire rope slings



2,889,603 ING June 9, 1959 INVENTORS rf E Joy and Carl h/ Smollyer 9Robe iwf/f@ United States Patent O COMPRESSION SLEEVE AND METHOD OF COM-PRESSING FOR WIRE ROPE SLIN GS Robert F. Joy and Carl W. Smollinger,Bethlehem, Pa., assignors to Bethlehem Steel Company, a corporation ofPennsylvania Application April 5, 1954, Serial No. 420,993 4 Claims.(Cl. 24-123) This invention relates to a compression sleeve for wirerope slings and the like which is simple to apply and which develops thefull strength of the rope, and to slings made with such sleeves.

One object of the invention is to provide a sleeve adapted to becompressed around a plurality of wire rope parts.

Another object is to provide a sleeve having a preformed openingtherethrough such that the wire rope parts inserted therein have adefinite initial position before compression of the sleeve.

Another object is to provide a sleeve having a preformed openingtherethrough and a preformed wall of varying thickness.

Still another object is to provide a sleeve in which the unopenedstrands therein are not changed in relative position during compressionor otherwise weakened when the sleeve is compressed thereon by means ofa die.

Another object is to provide a wire rope sling or the like that is ofsimple construction.

Another object is to provide a type of wire rope lsling having eyes ateach end, in which the number of strands in the body of the sling and inthe eyes can be varied depending upon the service to which the sling isto be put.

Referring now to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of one type of sleeve,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and

Fig. 3 is a cross section on line 3-3 of Fig. l, these 3 iigures showingthe sleeve before being compressed.

Fig. 4 shows a cross section of the sleeve after having been compressedin a die.

Fig. 5 shows a sling or grommet made with a. single sleeve.

Fig. 6 shows a sling made with a pair of sleeves.

Fig. 7 shows another type of sling made with two sleeves, each sleeveIaccommodating four rope parts.

The sleeve is characterized by having a preformed, multi-lobed openingtherethrough, and a wall of varying thickness. As shown in Figs. 1, 2and 3, the sleeve 11 is of hexagonal shape with a preformedtrefoil-shaped opening 12 therethrough. This opening is so positionedthat the apices 13 formed by two adjoining sides of the hexagon areradially opposite the intersection of adjoining lobes of the trefoilwhile the alternate apieces 1S are radially opposite the extreme outerparts 16 of the trefoil lobes. When a sleeve having a four lobed openingis used, the perimeter of the sleeve will preferably be octagonal; withthe opening so placed that the lobe intersections are radially oppositealternate apices of the Octagon.

In Fig. 5, a single sleeve 17 is used with a single length of wire ropeto form a sling with a single part loop 22 on either side of the sleeve.In forming this sling, a sleeve 17, having a three lobed openingtherethrough is used. The rope 25 is threaded through one of the lobes,and the ends of the rope are looped back and inserted from oppositesides of the sleeve through the remaining lobes respectively. After thewire rope parts are in place 2,889,603 Patented June 9, 1959 the sleeveis compressed in a die until it is in an approximately cylindrical formas shown in Fig. 4 at 17, the enclosed rope parts being compressed intocompact formas shown at 18, the metal .forced in from the pressureapplied by the die, which iirst contacts the sleeve at the apices 13 and15, until the polygonal outline approaches a circular shape. A-s will beseen the individual partis have now more or less lost their identity andare compacted into a single unit 18 having no regular outline but havingcontact with the sleeve throughout.

In Fig. 6 a pair of sleeves 17 are used to form a sling having a singlepart loop 23 at either end and a three part body 19 between the sleeves.In making this sling, sleeves 17 and 17 are threaded onto rope 26 andspaced apart by a distance equal to the required body length of thesling. One end 27 of the rope 26 is looped back and insertedsuccessively through-sleeves 17 and 17 and the other end 28 of the rope26 is similarly looped back and inserted lsuccessively through sleeves17 and 17'. The sleeves are then compressed upon the ropes as pre-Vvio'usly described.

Thevsling shown in-Fig. 7 comprises two sleeves 20 and 20 each having afour lobed opening therethrough, and a single length of wire rope 27,and includes a double loop 24 at each end and a three part body 21between the sleeves. This sling is made by threading two sleeves 20 and20 on the rope 29. One end of the rope 30 is looped back and threadedthrough sleeve 20. The other end of the rope is looped back and threadedsuccessively through `sleeves 20 and 20 to form the standing part 21.The part 3l is then looped back and threaded successively throughsleeves 20 and 20' to form the standing part 21. Finally the part 31 islooped back and inserted thru sleeve 20. The sleeves are then compressedupon the rope.

The sleeve is readily applied to the rope by threading the requiredparts through the sleeve where they are held in their proper position bythe lobes of the sleeve opening and then compressing the sleeve in adie.

While we have shown but three embodiments of the use of the sleeve manyother combinations are possible whereby the number of parts in the slingbody or the loops may be made to suit the use for which the sling isintended and whereby more than one continuous piece of rope may beemployed. Also, the parts forming the body of the sling may be braidedor twisted around each other as desired. Thus it is not intended that myinvention shall be limited to the specific forms shown in the `drawingsbut other modifications may be resorted to without departing from thespirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A compression sleeve for wire rope and the like, said sleeve beingpolygonal in cross section and having an even number of sides, a singlemultilobed shaped opening extending therethrough having half as manylobes as the sleeve has sides and located at approximately thegeometrical center of the sleeve, the lobes being oriented so that aradial line bisecting each lobe passes through each alternate apexformed by the sides of said polygonal member and a radial line passingthrough the intersections of adjacent lobes passes through each apexinter mediate the alternate apices of said polygonal member, wherebywhen said sleeve with wire rope inserted in the lobes is inserted in adie and compressive force applied thereto, a pressure will be lexertedupon said apices and cause the metal of the sleeve to flow into closeContact with the wire rope parts inserted in said multilobed open- 1ng.

2. A compression sleeve for wire rope and the like, said sleeve definingin cross section a polygon With an even number of sides and having asingle multilobed shaped opening extending therethrough located atapproximately the geometrical center of the sleeve the lobes beingoriented so that each lobe will be bisected by a radial line originatingat an apex of said polygon and each intersection between two adjoininglobes will lie on a radial line originating at an apex of lsaid polygonwhereby pressure from a compression die upon said apices causes a flowof metal around wire rope parts inserted in said multilobed opening.

3. The method of forming wire rope products which includes passing awire rope through each lobe of a multilobed shaped central bore of acompression sleeve of polygonal cross section having an even number ofapices said central bore being oriented so that the lobes are bisectedby diagonals joining opposed apices of the said sleeve and eachintersection between adjoining lobes lies along a diagonal joining otheropposed apices, and applying compressive force to the compression sleeveby a die which initially contacts the ysleeve at the aforesaid apicesthereby forcing the metal of the sleeve into close engagement with eachwire rope contained in the said lobes of the central bore.

4. The method of splicing wire ropes which comprises inserting said wireropes to be spliced into lobes of a multilobed shaped opening extendingthrough a compression sleeve having a polygonal cross section, the lobesof said multilobed shaped openings being oriented so that said lobes andalso the intersections between said lobes are located radially of theapices of said polygon, and compressing said compression sleve in a diewhich initially contacts the aforesaid apices to prelirninarily forcemetal of the compression sleeve to ow tightly around the wire ropesinserted into said multilobed shaped opening.

, References Cited in the le of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS1,289,178 Howell Dec. 31, 1918 1,368,480 Brown Feb. 15, 1921 2,008,227Reilly July 16, 1935 2,109,837 Davis May 1, 1938 2,327,683 Warner Aug.24, 1943 2,348,975 Hohwart May 16, 1944 2,461,030 Brickrnan Feb. 8, 19492,476,731 Hobbs July 19, 1949 2,621,385 Gilmore Dec. 16, 1952 FOREIGNPATENTS 458,129 Canada July 12, 1949 499,834 Great Britain Ian. 30, 1939715,432 Germany Dec. 22, 1941 807,779 Germany July 5, 1949

